Would self-driving vehicles increase occupant productivity?

New research by Michael Sivak and Brandon Schoettle of the University of Michigan Sustainable Worldwide Transportation indicates that currently, in the US the average occupant of a light-duty vehicle spends about an hour a day travelling—time that could potentially be put to more productive use. Indeed, increased productivity is one of the expected benefits of self-driving vehicles.
September 16, 2016 Read time: 2 mins

New research by Michael Sivak and Brandon Schoettle of the University of Michigan.

Sustainable Worldwide Transportation indicates that currently, in the US the average occupant of a light-duty vehicle spends about an hour a day travelling—time that could potentially be put to more productive use. Indeed, increased productivity is one of the expected benefits of self-driving vehicles.

The data presented in this white paper indicate that for about 62 per cent of Americans, self-driving vehicles currently are not likely to result in an improvement in productivity. This is the case because 23 per cent said they would not ride in such vehicles and 36 per cent would be so apprehensive in such vehicles that they would only watch the road. Furthermore, out of the remaining 41 per cent, around eight per cent would frequently experience some level of motion sickness—for an additional three per cent of occupants.

Of additional concern are non-traditional positions and postures being considered for occupants of self-driving vehicles (positions and postures for which current occupant protection systems are not optimised), and the behaviour in crashes of unrestrained objects being used for activities in the pursuit of increased productivity.

Consequently, the hoped-for increased productivity in self-driving vehicles would materialise only if the following are achieved: (1) an increased confidence of occupants in self-driving vehicles, which would allow them to be more interested in performing productive tasks while riding in such vehicles; (2) addressing the inherent motion-sickness problem; and (3) solving occupant-protection issues related to non-traditional seating positions and postures, and unrestrained objects becoming projectiles during crashes (or potentially being placed between the occupants and their airbags).

Also of importance is the fact that current trips in light-duty vehicles average only about 19 minutes - a rather short duration for sustained productive activity or invigorating sleep.

Location Based Systems

Related Content

  • Honda and Waymo in discussions on self-driving technology
    December 22, 2016
    Honda R&D the R&D subsidiary of Honda Motor is entering into formal discussions with Alphabet’s Waymo, with a view to integrating its self-driving technology with Honda vehicles. This technical collaboration between Honda researchers and Waymo's self-driving technology team would allow both companies to learn about the integration of Waymo's fully self-driving sensors, software and computing platform into Honda vehicles. As part of the discussion on technical collaboration, Honda could initially prov
    Read More
  • Substantial savings from smarter street lighting
    February 25, 2015
    As authorities strive to reduce expenditure and carbon emissions, Colin Sowman looks at some of the smart ways of managing street lighting while containing costs and maintaining safety. Street lighting can account for 40% of an authority’s energy consumption. So, faced with the need to reduce outgoings, some authorities are looking for smart ways of managing street lighting or even turning off swathes of street lights in the small hours. Back in 2008 the E-street Initiative report concluded that authorities
    Read More
  • ITF presents latest results on impacts of shared urban mobility
    September 29, 2016
    Speaking at the World Mobility Leadership Forum in Detroit this week, José Viegas, Secretary-General of the International Transport Forum (ITF) will tell world mobility leaders that smart methods for sharing vehicles hold the key to solving a city’s mobility issues, from congestion and air quality to better access to jobs or education. According to ITF, most negative impacts of current urban mobility patterns stem from the extraordinarily inefficient use of the private car. While a car is one of the most
    Read More
  • Transmax trials emergency vehicle ‘green wave’
    December 6, 2013
    Existing equipment used in Australian emergency vehicle ‘green wave’ trial. Despite the lights and sirens, accidents between the motoring public and emergency vehicles on their way to/from the scene of an incident are relatively frequent. Figures from various sources indicate that road accidents are the second most frequent cause of death for on-duty fire fighter fatalities and that more than 90% of ambulance and fire engine accidents occur when the lights are on and the sirens wailing. Other studies indica
    Read More

Highlighted Content